celluloid
a tough, highly flammable substance consisting essentially of nitrocellulose and camphor: once used in the manufacture of motion-picture and x-ray film, it is now used in a limited line of other products, including guitar picks, musical instruments, and table tennis balls.
motion-picture film: He was an intense director and a scrupulous editor, famous for leaving piles of celluloid on the cutting-room floor.
Informal. of or involving motion pictures: a star of the stage who was never lured into the celluloid industry.
Origin of celluloid
1Words Nearby celluloid
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use celluloid in a sentence
At the heart of celluloid, however, was the natural substance cellulose.
Materials of the last century shaped modern life, but at a price | Carolyn Wilke | January 28, 2022 | Science NewsCreative Cauldron’s producing director Laura Connors Hull brought them the obscure yet charming book that surprisingly had never before been reworked for stage or celluloid, and the pair got to work last spring.
Meet the husbands and creative partners behind ‘Christmas Angel’ | Patrick Folliard | December 4, 2021 | Washington BladePeople surviving or dying in ways at once shudderingly alien and hauntingly familiar, if only on celluloid.
Sept. 11, 2001: An ordinary work day, then surreal scenes of dread and death | David Maraniss | September 10, 2021 | Washington PostRobinson’s film work was just one part of his meteoric career, and his choices were limited by industry practices of the times, but the problematic celluloid images stuck.
‘The Mayor of Harlem’ celebrates Bill Robinson as dance superstar, as well as social activist | Celia Wren | May 21, 2021 | Washington PostIn the most crowd-pleasing section of the exhibition—dubbed Stage and Screen—hang his pictures of celluloid legends.
How Horst Captured Dietrich, Rita Hayworth, and Vivien Leigh—and Changed Fashion Photography | Patrick Strudwick | September 8, 2014 | THE DAILY BEAST
“Everyone could see their love right there on celluloid,” added their son, Stephen Bogart.
Of course, a great literary work does not a great film make—if it did, Shakespeare would need merely to be slathered on celluloid.
‘The Trial’ & More Top Film Adaptations of Literary Classics (VIDEO) | Jimmy So | November 24, 2012 | THE DAILY BEASTOn celluloid, similar fates have been met—sometimes even worse.
Will ‘Avatar’ Actress Zoe Saldana Play Legendary Singer Nina Simone? | Karu F. Daniels | August 23, 2012 | THE DAILY BEASTIn her hands, celluloid comes off as a medium that allows for old-fashioned rumination, with some of the slowness of oil paint.
Tacita Dean’s ‘Five Americans’ Captures a Quiet Brilliance | Blake Gopnik | May 7, 2012 | THE DAILY BEASTReal celluloid ivory combs, fit for the President's wife, sure enough.
Narcissa, or the Road to Rome | Laura E. RichardsNo high gloss to look like celluloid or Paper Collars, but a nice medium finish that has all the appearance of new work.
My Pet Recipes, Tried and True | VariousThe front of the box is provided with a handle and a celluloid label for the name of the contained medium.
The Elements of Bacteriological Technique | John William Henry EyreThen he sat down and pulled out his mothers celluloid memorandum tablets.
Winona of the Camp Fire | Margaret WiddemerJust behind the nervous young man with the celluloid collar sat a stout individual with a bald head.
Cap'n Eri | Joseph Crosby Lincoln
British Dictionary definitions for celluloid
/ (ˈsɛljʊˌlɔɪd) /
a flammable thermoplastic material consisting of cellulose nitrate mixed with a plasticizer, usually camphor: used in sheets, rods, and tubes for making a wide range of articles
a cellulose derivative used for coating film
one of the transparent sheets on which the constituent drawings of an animated film are prepared
a transparent sheet used as an overlay in artwork
cinema film
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
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